The muscles that enable modern humans to wiggle their ears likely ... these muscles are considered "vestigial" — evolutionary remnants with little practical use today. That said, the researchers ...

Humans lost that ability over time ... Excitingly, the findings also shed light on a vestigial part of our body—and a once-useful ability lost to evolution. “There are three large muscles ...

is interesting as an illustration of the extreme danger of regarding an organ as vestigial and functionless merely because our superficial investigations have not revealed to us its use.

Does this increased muscle activity help modern humans hear better? Probably not. "The ear movements that we have been studying are probably too tiny to have any effect on hearing," Hackley said.